Smaller…

There is this very popular so-called dim sum place in Kuching that has been around since probably the 60’s or 70’s. I would not say it is dim sum per se as all they have would be their steamed paos (buns), sio bee/siew mai (meat dumplings) and har kau (prawn dumplings). I know people would bring back boxes and boxes of these when they come home and my ex-student and lawyer friend, Louis, would make a beeline to that place whenever he goes over to Kuching (he calls it “the breakfast of champions”) but personally, I’m not a fan. There! You can have a look yourself…

*Photo from one of Louis’ albums on Facebook*

The paos are huge but the skin is thick and not soft and I think at times, they are even a bit yellowish in colour. Inside, there is a huge lump of minced meat…and once, you bite into the pao, the whole lump may drop out…so you will have to eat them separately. The same thing goes with the har kau (front, left) – the skin is thick, not fine nor translucent and comes apart so easily so you will end up with bits and pieces of it and the filling all over the place…and the sio bee/siew mai (back) is hard – no, not firm, not springy but hard and tough. But of course, that’s solely my opinion and a lot of people would surely strongly disagree – otherwise, the shop would not be in business for so very long nor would it be enjoying bustling business still, day in and day out.

Anyway, my friend (the one whom I helped babysit the kids) dropped by my house the other day and gave me these…

Nope, they were not from that shop, thankfully – these were homemade so sorry, you will not be able to get these anywhere in the city.

It looked like they had all meat inside…

…beaten well till firm and springy, almost like the texture of those typical dim sum siew mai but not quite the same…and they were not the same as those in Sibu either – for one thing, they were much smaller than our local ones…and they were not as hard as those from the aforementioned shop.

Well, what’s most important is the taste, of course, and I would say that they tasted really nice. Just dip in some chili sauce…

…and nom…nom…nom!!!! Yum! Yum!!!

Thank you so much, Lim & Chau Chin, for them…but you really should stop. Shy lah!!! Just did a bit of babysitting for you two for a while and you keep sending things over…

Hmmmm…now what shall I give you in return? More of my fried pasta with SPAM perhaps? Hehehehehehe!!!!!